A Timely Faith
In his book, Mustard Seed Vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the Future (Baker Books, 1999, ISBN # 0-810-988-1), Tom Sine pleads with the church to take the future seriously, "We need to pay attention not only to what the Spirit of God is stirring up in the church today but also to the new challenges and opportunities likely to come in the third millennium."
According to Sine, one of the most important things the church needs to do is examine how much it has bought into the values of "McWorld," individualism, consumerism, and materialism, rather than the values of the Kingdom of God, community, spirituality, and celebration of God's new order. Sine concludes that the western church is driven more by the powers of McWorld and therefore we are in a crisis.
The book is divided into three sections: (1) Crisis of Foresight; "we can no longer make plans in the church, raise our young, or order our lives as though the future were simply going to be static," (2) Crisis of Vision; "we seldom use scripture culturally to help us define an alternative vision to the American dream, and (3) Crisis of Imagination; "we need to invite the Holy Spirit to flood our imaginations to create new possibilities for life and mission for the twenty-first century."
Although this book serves as a wake-up call to churches that refuse to engage in the practice of contextualization, Sine's objective is not to bring despair. Each chapter offers descriptions of creative ways people are making a difference in the world as well as lists of "opportunities for Christian leaders," which gives specific examples of how we can get involved. At the end of each chapter there are also questions for discussion and action.
I agree with Richard Foster's endorsement, "An important book that we neglect to our peril."
-Derek Melleby